As a small business, it can be difficult to compete with the success of large corporations– particularly with significantly fewer resources. In order to compete, your business needs to be consistently growing and offering fresh and exciting solutions to clients, all while keeping costs to a minimum. To do otherwise is to risk becoming stagnant within the market– to be forgotten and pushed aside by a company that can actually compete in the market.
In the current economy, small businesses find it challenging to be able to meet the demand of providing full-time jobs while also being able to grow their business. That’s why the rising gig economy is such a powerful solution to this issue with small businesses. The gig economy is defined as a labor market of short-term contracts or freelance work as opposed to permanent jobs. Hiring freelancers instead of full-time workers on permanent contracts allows small businesses to cut spending and even allows some growing room for the business model.
The following are some benefits of utilizing the gig economy as a small business owner.
Access to Powerful Assets for Great Value
Small businesses often hire full-time workers to fulfill the needs of projects– which have end dates. Hiring a permanently contracted employee is not a sensible financial decision when your work needs are project-based. It adds an unnecessary expense and forces you to make use of that employee in areas of your business that they may not have expertise in.
With freelancers, you can get professional solutions for specific projects. The contract has an end date, so you’re paying for that expertise for exactly that period of time– rather than for endless months when it could no longer be necessary. Hiring a freelancer has a much higher return on investment than a permanent employee.
Creates Manageable Growth
Growth is a necessary part of competition but small businesses can grow rapidly and beyond what the business model can handle. This can cause the quality of your goods or services to suffer, and even affect efficiency and cost. Hiring full-time employees can be time-consuming with the bureaucracies of installing a permanent contract. This is, thus, an unhelpful decision in managing the rapid growth of the business, as it’s more of an investment that takes time to pay off.
Growing a cohesive permanent team can be a slow and cumbersome process, but growing a temporary team can be accomplished very quickly. The interview process for permanent staff takes hours, but freelancers can be hired quickly online or through word-of-mouth referrals. Plus, you have control over how long you work with each freelancer– you have all the flexibility you could want with your team and managing levels of growth.
Focused Expertise Where You Need It
When hiring full-time employees, small businesses often attempt to cut costs by offering lower salaries and therefore not hiring the best, most expensive workers on the market. As a result, these businesses end up with permanent employees with limited skillsets. With the gig economy, you can get unlimited access to a team of workers with different skills– workers that you can pick and choose as they are right for your projects. You can essentially create a team of experts without a major time or financial investment.
Cost-Effective
Bringing on full-time workers can be a huge expense. It includes training costs, wages, incentives, benefits, and bonuses. Hiring freelancers will save you thousands in cost– which means you’ll save money that you can then invest in the best experts for your team. That’s higher quality work being produced for a much lower cost– how can a small business owner argue with that?
Conclusion
Traditional hiring may not serve your small business as much as the gig economy can. Freelancers offer an option for your small business to produce high-quality work for a low cost and present promising futures for the growth of business.
Looking for guidance for your small business? Contact Experience on Demand for expert consultation from senior-level business executives.